A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The family first had its origin as small landowners within the barony of Coup- 

 land, where they probably received a grant of lands from William Meschin 

 when the latter received this fief from Henry I. 1 Within this barony they 

 held the vills of Muncaster, 2 Hensingham, Preston, Lamplugh, and Work- 

 ington, and within the barony of Westmorland a great part of the parishes of 

 Barton and Morland, 8 where their lands, although lying within the limits of 

 that barony, were actually members of the barony of Kendal, a fact pointing 

 to the early date of the original feoffment of these lands. 4 In Yorkshire the 

 greater part of the vills of Middleton and Kneeton were held by this family 

 of the honour of Richmond at least as early as I235, 5 and the wapentake of 

 Ewcross with some half dozen manors or more was held of the barony of 

 Mowbray from about the middle of the twelfth century, if not earlier.' 



Of the first recorded member of this family there is little to mention 

 beyond the bare fact that his name was Gilbert and his wife's name Godith. 7 

 To this the monkish chroniclers have added the fiction that he was the son 

 of Ketel, son of Eldred, son of Ivo Taillebois, 8 whereas he was almost, if not 

 quite contemporary with Ivo, by whom Gilbert or his predecessor was 

 probably enfeoffed of those manors within the barony of Westmorland of 

 which his descendants, the barons of Kendal, were chief lords. 9 The connexion 

 which existed between the heirs of Ketel son of Eldred, namely the Curwens 

 of Workington, and the Lancasters, of whom the former held several manors 

 in Cumberland and Westmorland, was probably of tenure rather than of 

 consanguinity. Intimately connected with this subject is a charter, of which 

 an ancient transcript is preserved at Levens Hall, by which Roger de Mowbray 

 grants to William, son of Gilbert de Lancaster, in fee and inheritance, ' all my 

 land of Lonsdale, and of Kendal, and Horton in Ribblesdale,' to hold by the 

 service of four knights. 10 It would be interesting to discuss the question as to 

 whether this charter represents an original grant or merely a confirmation of a 

 much older infeudation, but this belongs to the history of Westmorland, and 

 cannot with propriety be dealt with here. 



William son of Gilbert was the first to be enfeoffed of lands in Lancashire. 

 This seems evident from the inquest of service taken in 1212, where, in the 

 enumeration of feoffments made by him, 11 he is described as ' Willelmus filius 

 Gilberti, primus.' He is not always described as ' de Lancaster,' from which 

 it may be inferred that he was the first of his line to be associated with the 

 county and its lords. The monastic chronicle to which allusion has already 

 been made tells us that he caused himself to be called ' de Lancaster ' by the 

 king's licence, and to be styled before the king in Parliament (sic) ' William 

 de Lancaster, baron of Kendal.' The same chronicle states that he married 

 Gundreda, formerly countess of Warwick, whose husband, Roger de Newburgh, 

 died in 1 1 53. She was the eldest daughter of William, second earl Warenne, 



1 V, C. H. Cumb. i. 421. * Coiuher efFurness, Chetham Soc. (New Sen), is. 125. 



8 Lanes. Fines, Rec. Soc. xxxix. 2 1 3-4. 



4 Hackthorpe and Melkanthorpe, in the parish of Lowther, and a great part of the parish of Morland, 

 were all members of the barony of Kendal, although by situation falling within the barony of Westmor- 

 land. Nicholson and Burn, Hist, of Cumb. and Westmld. i. 441-53. 



1 Lanes. Fines, Rec. Soc. xxxix. 6 1 ; Kirkby's Quest, Surtees Soc. xlix. 170. 



Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 389. " 1 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 392. 



8 Man. Angl. iii. 553 ; Cockersand Chartul. Chetham Soc. (New Ser.), zxxix. 305. 



9 Gilbert fitz Reinfred and Helewise his wife confirmed some of Ivo's grants to the abbey of St. Mary, 

 York. Mm. Angl. iii. 566 ; Prescott, Reg. of Wetherhal, 338. 



10 Reg. of Deeds at Levens Hall, f. 79 ; Lanes. Pipe R. 389. u Exch. K.R. Kts. fees, J, m. 3*. 



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